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On January 7, 2020, China General Administration of Customs (GAC) released the list of non-compliant food products rejected by GAC during port-inspection in November 2019.[1] One hundred thirty-eight batches of foods had issues (download the list). Major categories of food rejected include coffee, tea, beer, meat, and aquaculture products.
Non-compliance overview
| Origin | Number of foods rejected (batch) |
| China Taiwan | 42 |
| USA | 40 |
| Switzerland | 17 |
| Ecuador | 7 |
| Vietnam | 6 |
| New Zealand | 5 |
| Japan | 4 |
| Italy | 4 |
| France | 2 |
| Thailand | 2 |
| India | 2 |
| Other | 7 |
| Category | Number of foods rejected (batch) |
| coffee, tea, and flavoring | 33 |
| beverages and alcohol | 30 |
| meat and offal | 19 |
| aquatic products | 19 |
| Cereal based foods | 17 |
| other food | 9 |
| cocoa and its products | 5 |
| animal and plant fat/oil | 2 |
| confectionary | 2 |
| fruits and vegetables processed foods | 1 |
| dairy products | 1 |
| Reason for rejection | Number of foods rejected (batch) |
| packaging and labels | 50 |
| other | 43 |
| credentials | 24 |
| quarantine | 8 |
| expiration | 7 |
| food additive | 2 |
| pesticide residue | 2 |
| contaminants limits | 1 |
| organisms’ limits | 1 |
Case study: bottled mineral water failed due to labeling non-compliance
ChemLinked noticed there were two batches of bottled drinking water banned from importation due to non-compliant labeling. Involved brands are Evian from France and Onepure from Japan.
The seemingly simple label of drinking water can be tricky if overseas stakeholders have no idea what standards they shall comply with. Under China’s regulatory framework, bottled drinking water is categorized into the following three types and shall comply with corresponding national standards:
Drinking natural mineral water (GB 8537-2018)
Drinking purified water (GB 19298-2014)
Other types of mineral water (GB 19298-2014)
Despite some common requirements laid out in GB 7718 General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Food,[2] , different types of water have specific labeling compliance requirements. For example, labels of drinking natural mineral water need to indicate:
Water source
Qualification threshold indexes, total dissolved solids and concentration range of major positive ions (K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+)
Note of “the product contains fluorine” when the concentration of fluorine exceeds 1.0 mg/L.[3]
For more analysis of imported food rejected by China customs, please read ChemLinked’s annual regulatory report. If you have enquires o import and compliance issues, do not hesitate to contact ChemLinked.
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